Hand-forged Center Bit

Tried my hand at forging a woodworker’s center bit this morning. Started out with a length of rebar. These bits are used to drill shallow perfectly round holes with a brace. It is the traditional bit used for roughing out the mortice for the lock on a muzzle loading firearm. Heres the blank pretty much forged out:

A little sawing and filing…ok, a LOT of filing, and it was ready to be tempered. The finished bit is pictured below with a 19th century original.

It will cut but not as well as the original. The next one will be better!